86 BULLETIN 208, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



taken at the same time, was also in breeding condition. Its ovary con- 

 tained one ovum about 9 mm. in diameter and 10 or 12 ova about 1 

 mm. each in diameter. 



No other eggs and no nestlings of this bird have yet been found. 

 There is no reason for assuming that its breeding habits will prove 

 to be different from those of /. variegatus, but we have nothing to go 

 on. Williams (1951, p. 108), who collected the breeding male in the 

 Bwamba forest, western Uganda, refers to the fact that nearby was a 

 colony of brown barbets, Gymnohucco bonapartei, "which may have 

 acted as hosts to the honey-guide." Bates (1930, p. 269) suggests 

 a possible adaptive similarity in coloration between this honey-guide 

 and one of the woodpeckers, Campethera nivosa, a mimicry which, 

 if actual, would suggest that the latter may be a regular host of the 

 parasite. 



At Ntandi, in the Bwamba forest, the van Somerens (1949, p. 43) 

 watched one of these honey-guides inspecting a barbet's nesting hole 

 within a few feet of where they were sitting. "It alighted below the 

 hole, entered, came out, and re-entered. Wlien it emerged within a 

 minute or so, it sat on a nearby branch as though hesitating or con- 

 templating a further inspection. There were no eggs in the hole." 



Songs and Calls 



In the Bwamba forest, Uganda, Williams heard this bird give a 

 curious call, a low purring brrrrr repeated at intervals of a minute or 

 so, a song that is evidently not very unlike the purring or croaking 

 call of the male of Indicator variegatus. Williams' experience with it 

 closely parallels my own with the latter species. It took quite some 

 time before he could see the calling bird, which was sitting on a 

 branch of a tall forest tree, and every time it produced its guttural 

 purring it puffed out all its feathers, making it appear much larger 

 momentarily, and then resumed its hunched-up posture. 



The bird Wilhams watched proved, on collection, to be a male in 

 breeding condition. In the same forest the van Somerens (1949, p. 43) 

 saw several individuals which were silent, causing them to comment on 

 "a marked absence of any call notes such as we have noted for /. var- 

 iegatus." It may be that this purring sound is given only by the 

 male during the breeding season. 



In the Cameroons, Bates (1909a, p. 15) reports that his native 

 assistants told him that this honey-guide gives a cheeping cry, woe, 

 woe (woe being the native word for honey) . Whether this is something 

 read into the call is not known. 



